DETROIT -- Whether or not Drew Smyly felt tired, the Tigers were going to make sure it didn’t get to him.

In his first full season in the bullpen, the life-long starter has had to get used to multiple roles.

And, in the second half of the season, he’s had to get used to being used far less.

“It has been a noticeable drop-off,” said the 24-year-old lefty, who threw 56 2/3 innings in the first half, but has tossed just 17 since then. “A lot of times when I go out there, it’s just to face a lefty or two, just situational stuff. Before the All-Star break, I was throwing a couple innings at a time.”

Advertisement

That is true.

Monday’s game was the first time since June 23rd that Smyly was tasked with getting through two innings. It was also the first time since the trade deadline acquisition of set-up man Jose Veras that Smyly had gotten more than three outs.

A day after blowing the save in Sunday’s game -- allowing a lone run that cost Max Scherzer his 20th win -- Smyly was out there again Monday, going a much-needed 1 2/3 innings against a lefty-heavy Mariners lineup, giving up a run.

“Once again, he did a fine job,” said Tigers manager Jim Leyland, belying the fact that Smyly has a 4.24 ERA in the second half after a 1.97 ERA in the first half. “He’s getting nicked for a run once in a while but he’s getting big outs when he needs it.”

That has been more of his profile since his role changed when Veras joined the bullpen.

It wasn’t the first time it had changed, either.

After losing out on the fifth starter job to Rick Porcello, Smyly started as the bullpen’s long reliever. Once he proved to be one of the most effective relievers the Tigers had, he morphed into the seventh-inning guy, then graduated to the eighth inning setup role when Joaquin Benoit became the closer.

Now, he’s more of a situational reliever for late in the game, facing tough lefties that might give Veras troubles. That’s allowed his usage to be much more manageable. In part, that’s a nod toward Smyly’s value.

It’s also an acknowledgement that his innings were climbing at an alarming rate.

That pre-All-Star break total was the most among all relievers in baseball. So was Smyly’s pitch total at the time.

And that doesn’t even count the times he got up in the bullpen and warmed up.

They needed to back him off. And they did.

“We did. And we wanted to save him down the stretch for big situations. We really hadn’t had those come up in a lot of cases. Recently, the last few days, we have, and we used him, obviously,” Leyland said.

“He’d never been pitched that much out of the bullpen, so we just kind of — Jonesy (pitching coach Jeff Jones) thought we should back off him a little bit.”

It wasn’t something they let Smyly in on, though.

And it was nothing he asked for. He never begged off, or complained of being tired.

“It wasn’t me. I don’t have any say-so in that type of stuff. I mean, I know they’re always pretty conservative with me. So, maybe,” he said. “There’s times throughout the season where you feel good, you feel bad. You gotta battle through it. Right now, I feel fine. Body’s good.”

That’s a good sign, going into the stretch drive.

Miggy will get off his feet Thursday

Tigers manager Jim Leyland said that Victor Martinez will catch in Thursday’s series finale day game, allowing Miguel Cabrera to DH for the first time this season. Ramon Santiago will likely play third base in Cabrera’s stead.

Cabrera came into Tuesday’s game hitting just .229 in 11 games in September, and hadn’t homered since Aug. 26

Matthew B. Mowery covers the Tigers for Digital First Media. Read his “Out of Left Field” blog at opoutofleftfield.blogspot.com.